30 October 2009

Messages from the universe

I went to the movies with my parents who are visiting and chose to see Julia & Julie without really knowing what it was. Turns out it was a movie based on 2 true stories about many things, including writing a blog (the main character decides to blog her way through Julia Child's cookbook in a year- preparing over 500 recipes in 365 days and telling her adventures online).

I really enjoyed the movie, mainly because of the spectacular performance of Meryl Streep as a very tall and extravagant lady of the 60s. But also, I found the overlapping medium interesting, we read books, watch films, write blogs and this is now all intertwined. The character from the 1960s communicates by means of letters sent and received family and friends overseas, she works on the book with a typewriter and carbon paper. The modern girl communicates by internet via her blog with many faithful readers.

I must say I am sometimes a bit overwhelmed by modern communication means and the thousands of ways to contact people that are sometimes so impersonal. I'm a bit of a communication hermit in the sense that I do not have a facebook account, and practically never connect to msn. I might not seem very sociable or always have all the information, but I believe I end up finding out about the right things without being swamped with info. I feel the universe sends the right messages when they need to be sent and being constantly connected to internet or mobile phone doesn't make it go any faster. If anything it distracts my mind making it harder to see those signs...

23 October 2009

Hello project

Found this project on this awesome website. I adore post-it art and indulge in it sometimes at work... It reminds me I should doodle more and get those juices flowing!

The concept: draw a hello message on a post-it, scan it and they'll post it;-) Simple and fun, it's so cool to see what others have contributed.

21 October 2009

What the hell is this blog about?

I started this blog 6 months ago, at a time when I needed to use my extra thinking energy on something else than my relationship issues. I'd started a couple of other blogs in the past but usually gave up after posting a few times, usually because I did not know what to write and was afraid of being judged for what I wrote and how I expressed it.

I have a lot of trouble with self-esteem, on a good day I won't think about it, but on bad days I feel like I am out of place everywhere, have nothing interesting to say and wish I could just disappear out of view and not face my own critical inner voice.

In the end this blog has become an extension of my journal, no one around me knows about the blog so far. I am not confident enough to tell even my family or close friends, maybe that will come later. For now it is just a platform for me to express things that catch my eye, that make me happy, that I create, or inspire me, that I can save to look back on when the going gets more difficult, and I write only for myself, freely.

I like the act of blogging, the simplicity of posting and the history that builds up. I feel the tug to write after a while without posting. I love reading other blogs too and the simple joy of finding a new post or a post that really speaks to me in a particular moment. It is also a simple pleasure of modern life!

16 October 2009

If everyone has a piercing, why can't I get one?

Spent the last weekend in Turin catching up with some friends who I hadn't seen for far too long...

It was a real pleasure to be in Italy and speak the language again, taste the delicious food and generally enjoy life like italians know how to do so well.

We went for a long walk in the beautiful warm weather (very big contrast to Amsterdam in this period), through a giant market with all its wonderful fresh products, cheap clothes, flea market... Its a nice city despite being the industrial home of Fiat (employing about 80% of the people living there!).

Hungry, we stopped for delicious pizza on the corner of this beautiful little piazza, traditional with a church and this piercing on the corner of the building (made by Corrado Levi in 96). Improbable as it is it gives the square a particular twist capable of surprising the simple wanderer...

Questionning the usual

This is the name of a very cool exhibition in Louisianna museum in Denmark. It was about questionning things and featured many art works including a microphone cloud, an ice room with the carcass of a race car, extremely colourful collages with pins, a radio the size of a room where you are the antenna and more.

The museum is wonderful, it is located by the sea and in nature, with spectacular views. At the same time there is a lot of room for the art works.

I loved the giant sign on the top of the museum and wish I could see this sign out my window sometimes when I need a boost! I put it in this blog as a reminder for now;-)